The present invention relates generally to new and useful improvements in a removable handle for a medical device and more particularly to an ERCP catheter with a removable handle for a lithotriptor compatible basket.
Endoscopic retrogradecholangiopancreatography (ERCP) enables the physician to diagnose problems in the liver, gallbladder, bile ducts and pancreas. ERCP is used primarily to diagnose and treat conditions such as blockage of the bile ducts by gallstones and blockage of the pancreatic ducts from stones. ERCP combines the use of x-rays and an endoscope. The physician can see the inside of stomach and duodenum and inject dyes into the ducts in the biliary tree and pancreas through the endoscope so that the organs can be visualized on x-rays. Once a stone is visualized the physician can insert instruments into the scope to remove the stone. One such instrument is an ERCP catheter having a drive cable and basket assembly inserted within the catheter. Conventionally, to facilitate stone removal, a sphincterotomy is performed on the papilla to ensure that the opening of the bile duct is as large as possible. An ERCP catheter is introduced through the endoscopy channel and the basket assembly captures the stone using a conventional method. In certain circumstances, it may become evident that the stone is too large to be removed in one piece despite the sphincterotomy. At this point, the drive cable is tensioned such that the basket holding the stone is wedged against the papilla to retain the captured stone. Next, the ERCP catheter and basket drive cable is cut so that the catheter can be removed over the drive cable leaving the basket and stone in place. Subsequently, a lithotriptor, such as the Wilson-Cook® Conquest TTC™ Lithotriptor or the Wilson-Cook® Soehendra®, is used to crush the stone into smaller fragments.
One disadvantage with such conventional ERCP catheters is the need to cut a portion of the ERCP catheter and the drive cable to remove the catheter and feed a through-the-scope lithotriptor over the drive cable to crush the stone.
Another disadvantage is once the drive cable has been cut, the overall length of the drive cable is shortened considerably making it more difficult for the operator to manipulate the drive cable and retain captured stone.
Further, the drive cable is typically made up of several multi-filament cables which are intertwined. Once the drive cable has been cut, the distal ends of the multi-filament cables tend to fray adding to the difficulty of handling the drive cable, retaining the stone and using the through-the-scope lithotriptor to crush the stone.
These problems are overcome through the use of catheter with a removable handle constructed in accordance with this invention.